


the way of things

by AerisaHale



Series: to dream's end [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerisaHale/pseuds/AerisaHale
Summary: Turns out, the ring Yusuf earned from the Captain didn’t just come in useful, it changed the course of history.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: to dream's end [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845520
Comments: 4
Kudos: 153





	the way of things

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't get the ring out of my head and the fact that I didn't make use of it, so here's a little bonus scene. Enjoy!

After things settled down from the Merrick incident, Nile had taken it upon herself to pick up the research that Copley had started. Joe and Nicky funded her with whatever she needed, checking in on her work occasionally. It was a book with a familiar ring emblazoned on the cover that caught Joe’s eye and he started flipping through it, shocked at what he was learning and lost in the memories of that time.

\--

“I’ve got this, don’t worry,” Yusuf said as he strolled through the dock like he owned it. However, the side-eyed glances from the workers were not those of employee to employer, but native to foreigner. His dark skin belied his Middle Eastern roots, exotic in a harbor town of Japan. It did not stop his gait as he marched toward a particular ship.

His three companions behind him were equally out-of-place. A light-skinned woman donned in heavy armor, an Asian woman but similarly wrapped in warrior’s garb, and an Italian man—though he chose to dress as a ronin of these lands, two swords tucked against his side—made up Yusuf’s entourage. The Italian man paid the attention no mind as he whistled along behind his lover and the two women murmured to each other in a language not even their companions were familiar with.

“This is the one,” Yusuf exclaimed as he started climbing the gangway to the ship. Two sailors were quick to bar his path, asking who he was and what he wanted. He dug exaggeratedly through his pockets for the item he knew would gain them a ticket on this ship. Before he could find it, he heard an easily recognizable grumble from behind the two sailors.

“I had a feeling I’d be seeing you again,” a tall man with long hair tied back, greying at the temples said, waving his men away with a hand.

“I’ve come to return you something,” Yusuf said as he continued to search his pockets. “Ah, here it is!” He laid the gold signet ring in the Captain’s hand. The Captain turned it over in his fingers before slipping back onto it’s home on his middle finger. “If you’re heading back the way you came, that’s where we’re headed, a bit South, actually.”

He glanced back to his friends before facing forward and shrugging. “We’ll go wherever you can take us. It’s just time for us to move on.”

The Captain squinted. “Will trouble be following you?”

“None that can swim.” Yusuf grinned. “And none we can’t handle, worry not.”

The Captain contemplated his choices, eyes roving slowly over the other three members of Yusuf’s party. “Can they fight like you?”

“Oh, even better, I’d stake my life on it.” Heart fluttering at the chuckle that pulled from Nicolo, the Turkish man couldn’t help the widening of his grin.

“Same deal as before then, the ring pays you and your companion’s passage, and you continue training my men for food.”

The group boarded the ship and were led to four hammocks in the belly of the ship and a trunk to share for their personal belongings. It would take a month to cross the ocean back into the Song Dynasty’s territory. A month to train these men into the warriors that the Captain wanted.

\--

At the time, the four just did what they needed to do to get back to the Eastern mainland. Joe could not have guessed the impact they had and he was astounded as he read the passages detailing the Captain’s log from that ship.

_Horikawa 18_

_The Middle Eastern man came back. He had three more with him this time, two of them women! But he was right when he said they fight even better than him, and that isn’t a detriment to his own prowess. One of my men thought he might take one of the women for himself and he has since sunk to the bottom of the ocean._

_-_

_Yusuf’s and his fighters have departed to the mainland but they have trained my fighters better than I could have ever afforded. The Blue Lotus Network finally has a fighting ship and the real work begins._

_-_

_Took down a group of pirates aimed at taking the port of Hyogu no Tsu. That would have been devastating to the spice trading route and the Emperor has finally realized the value of our network._

_-_

_The Emperor’s funding has allowed the Blue Lotus Network to grow. We patrol the seas and protect our home from threats both from outside and within. I finally have contacts in most leadership in the mainland._

_-_

_One of my spies informed us in time to stop a fleet of Song Dynasty ships from taking the entire Northern Island. The Blue Lotus Network is stronger than ever._

_-_

_It has come time for me to pass my leadership on to someone else. A part of me can’t help but wish it was the man who started all this. Yusuf al-Kaysani, should you ever see this, you changed the history of Japan and no one will ever know. But I will. And I will ensure your legacy carries on._

_-_

Joe couldn’t help the tears that came to his eyes. They didn’t get to see their impact like this until very recently. He could not believe training one single ship’s soldiers, simply for passage to and from Japan, would change the very course of its history. But fate worked in mysterious ways, it seemed.

He had found purpose in his sweet, beautiful Nicky, but this sort of impact was almost more profound. None of them had known the Captain would go on to found a spy network for the Emperor of Japan circa 1100. From what he’d read, it carried on for four generations before crumbling to the passage of time and politics.

They may not know how they came to be, but the Immortals now knew why. When Andy and Quynh become factored in, even Joe and Nicky’s impact on the world was small and yet, here it was, thousands of instances laid before him, thousands of reasons to keep fighting.

He watched Nile point to a spot on her board and push a book into Andy’s lap, forcing the woman to read her own past deeds with a sour but curious expression on her face. Nicky was similarly buried in an old scroll that Copley had forced him to wear gloves just to touch. A package to Booker was set on the table ready to ship to him at their newest member’s insistence.

Joe decided that fate worked in even more mysterious ways because while they had now found a thousand reasons to keep fighting, they’d only needed one and they had found her in an FOB in Afghanistan.


End file.
